Just Avatar
by Sanded Silk
Summary: A little Avatar is bent and shaped into her Fire Lord father's war weapon. She doesn't realize there is a way out until she begins bending the other three elements. Oneshot, even though this summary makes the story seem somewhat long-winded XD


Um…so. There isn't much to say without giving away the whole story, other than the fact that the narrator is a Fire Nation princess, born as the Avatar during the war.

Enjoy! :D

**Disclaimer: I own the characters, but not the plotline. I suppose this is the part where I pretend to threaten to buy Avatar: the Last Airbender, but I guess it's too late for that, the series being over and all… (sigh)**

--Sanded Silk

-o-o-o-o-o-

Father never talks to me.

He just glares and points

and shoots untiring balls of flame

at me. Over and over.

I learn to control the flames

learn to reduce his attacks

to useless tongues of heat,

to redirect flame

in the pit of my stomach

redirect the energy itself.

I learn the color,

the temper,

the raging strength

of a firebender's mind.

Father snarls.

Always with a glare he greets me,

always with a snarl he leaves

unable to wait until I am

done healing from the training.

Father only calls me Avatar,

a name that makes no sense

no meaning

to me.

Call me daughter? Call me Jula?

Never.

Just Avatar.

-o-

After he has also taught me

how to read a lie in the hands,

trickery in the eye,

devices in the lips,

he calls forth three more.

Teachers of the ends of the earth

brought before me in shackles

are forced to drill into me

the ways of bending their elements.

In the earthbender, I see

strength in the shoulders,

alertness in the brow,

breath in the chest.

I mimic, and the ground shakes.

Father snarls.

In the airbender, I see

lightness in the ankles,

simplicity in the jaw,

infinite optimism in the eyes.

Though I do not fully understand,

I try to mimic.

A wind blows through my fingers.

Father snarls.

In the waterbender, I see

peace in the neck,

grace in the elbow,

tranquility in the smile.

A smile?

For me?

I read an emotion

a feeling

I do not understand.

Yet it blossoms within me

and water rushes

to clap Father in the jaw.

A burn mark I suffer

but no regrets have I.

-o-

The airbender, the earthbender

both leave

as soon as they can.

There is a war

and they are losing

but we are winning;

this is what they told me

before they disappeared.

I thought I heard them screaming

one night, one black night,

one evil night

but it was just a dream.

Father says so.

The waterbender is still here,

and he smiles at me

every time he has the chance.

I don't know how to return a smile.

With a frown?

A snarl?

A whip of flame?

When I ask him

he laughs

with sad eyes

and tells me that the way to

return a smile is to

smile.

I try, and my cheeks stretch

and I realize that I like this

smiling

though it hurts my cheeks.

I see his approval in his relaxed back

and his eyes.

Different from Father's approval,

this kind of approval

is calmer,

happier,

more sincere.

My cheeks no longer hurt

from smiling.

-o-

The waterbender has a son.

My age, I think.

He has blue eyes

so different from my gold ones,

curly brown hair

so different from my straight black hair,

a smile that appears as easily as

a bird lifts into the air.

At first there is no smile

when he meets me.

But his father talks to him—

The Fire Lord

knew not how to raise a daughter

so she is different.

But she is good.

She is good.

And the son smiles

and greets me

with a smile.

Hello, Princess Jula.

-o-

One night

the son rushed into my room

his eyes on fire

with pain.

Your Father,

he shouts at me,

Has killed my father.

He wants to kill me next.

Princess Jula, did you know this?

I did not.

I hear Father's footsteps

harsh, strong

coming to my room.

Hide me, please, Princess Jula.

Father shouts for me.

Avatar!

Never daughter. Never Jula.

Just Avatar.

I run to open my closet door

and the waterbender's son

runs in.

I close the closet

and I am in bed

as soon as Father opens my door

with a crash.

Avatar! Have you seen

that dirty waterbender's son?

Dirty?

I ask.

How was he dirty?

Father repeats his question.

I see anger in every crook of his body,

every fold of his clothing.

Jealousy in his eyes,

fear dripping from his beard like poison.

I shake my head no.

He does not read the fear in me,

does not see

that I am lying.

No, he is too busy

cursing

stomping

down the hallway

and away.

I open the closet door

and the waterbender's son

tumbles out

a mess of limbs

and fear.

Though he is shaking,

he touches my elbow

puts an arm around my waist

and thanks me

over and over again.

I think

that with his arm around me

he might be trying to kill me,

but his body

has none of the sudden tenseness

that Father's body does

before he closes in

with the decisive slash of flame.

So I let the waterbender's son

hold me

in a tumble of cloth

under the moonlight.

He promises to come for me

when he knows that I am in need

which he says

will be soon.

I don't understand.

I ask him,

but he is already gone,

slipped through my fingers

clambering out of my window

and disappearing

into the darkness

as suddenly as he

first appeared

in my life.

-o-

My time of need came

when Father first mentioned the war to me.

Raging war,

furious war

between the Fire Nation

and the world.

And the Fire Nation was winning.

He needed me now, Father said.

He needed me

to master my bending

and to master my body-reading

and to accompany him into the final battle

and bring the war to a finish.

It doesn't sound so bad

and Father seems to be happy

when he thinks about it.

So I agree to help him.

The training gets harder.

I am verbally

taught ways

to eliminate people

ways to kill them

erase them.

I learn ways

without spilling a drop of blood,

and I learn ways

where the blood spurts

and flows like great rivers.

Father lets me practice on

the more inefficient guards.

The first one

was a clean,

bloodless kill.

But I read his body as he died

and his feelings terrified me.

Terror.

Pain.

Then nothing.

Father assured me that

after practicing, I would be

fine.

So I tried a technique

where the blood flied.

I found myself

standing

before a lifeless

cold

wide-eyed

brutally slit

body

I was covered

smeared

drowning

in blood

crimson blood

all over my clothes

in my ears

my eyes

never scrubbing

out of my hands

I was terrified

Screaming

I ran from the room

ignoring Father

and vowed never

to kill someone

ever again.

-o-

I was locked

in my room

until the day came

when I would leave

with Father

to destroy the world.

It was nighttime

my window was open

the moon was full

the air was crisp

and I was crying.

Soon

I would have to do

what I did to those two guards

to so many more people

so many more.

Escape through the window?

And come face to face

with swarms of guards

whom I would never

have the strength to

fight?

Escape through the window

was impossible.

Then something happened

outside my window—

guards grunted

bodies fell

water splashed.

Water.

I ran to the window

to look down at the courtyard

and there he was.

The waterbender's son

here to get me

at my time of need.

He looked up at me

surrounded by groaning guards

and a flood of water

moonlight on his face

and smiled.

I smiled back

though the tears cracked on my cheeks.

Jump down, princess Jula.

And I did.

-o-o-o-o-o-

**A/N: **So, yeah. Please review!! :D

EDIT: I got the idea of body-reading from Batgirl from the Justice League, and I got the "Terror…then nothing" line from that too. Just so you all know that I didn't come up with it myself.

--Sanded Silk


End file.
